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Monday, 11 January 2016

Mud and Memory

Yesterday morning there was time for a quick jaunt down to Cogden. One Coot and four Teal comprised my only year ticks, and the best bird was an adult Little Gull lingering distantly offshore. Also nice were two 2w Med Gulls, two Red-throated Divers and three Fulmars...or maybe the same Fulmar three times!

I also had a look for the Firecrest seen recently. No joy, but never mind, because nothing beats a gentle stroll through ankle-deep mud...


So far for me it's been wellies only at Cogden. How different from the Axe Estuary and the nice hard footpaths at Black Hole and Seaton Marshes, say. Very glad I invested in some Muckboots a while back!

As I lounge here in a nice New Forest hotel room, tapping this out with one finger, David Bowie is all over the telly. It's one of those 'remember where you were when you heard they'd pegged it?' moments. I don't have many of those, but my most vivid is 9 Dec 1980. It was early morning and I was driving to the River Colne near Uxbridge to go pike fishing. The radio newsreader announced that John Lennon had been shot dead just a short time ago. I went on to catch about ten pike that day. Mrs NQS would find some irony here. How is it that I can clearly recall something which happened 35 years ago, yet fail to do likewise with a thousand far more vital things within ten seconds of her telling me?

One of life's little mysteries...
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6 comments:

  1. Derek Faulkner12 January 2016 at 05:39

    I feel for you re. the mud, I'm currently wandering round a whole nature reserve like that, plus flooding. Couple that with arthritis in the feet and ankles and it's very painful every night.

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    1. Gavin Haig12 January 2016 at 09:46

      I'm looking forward to the day when I can ditch the wellies. Mind you, shorts and trainers seems a bit wishful right now...and a long way off!

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  2. Unknown12 January 2016 at 20:42

    I vaguely remember fishing a club match on a narrow and deep river near Devizes or Bath and drawing a peg that was not far off a couple of miles away. It was slushy mud all the way there so I arrived soaked with sweat and caked in muck. I think there was a consolation by way of drawing next to the great Dave Harrell who didn't fare too well on the day. The walk back was worsened by finding I was ounces away from some section coin.

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    1. Gavin Haig12 January 2016 at 23:02

      Sounds fantastic Andrew! Fresh air and healthy exercise, you lucky beggar!

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  3. Ric13 January 2016 at 03:13

    Gav, Just in from NZ so wide awake at this hour of posting.
    I was in a drawing office at the 'John Lennon' moment, reading a carp book at the time. Strangely enough there was another guy in the office who was a carp angler and was 'sleeping somewhere unknown' on the rods. He was so insular and secretive he absolutely refused to talk about it. I guess he viewed me as some sort of potential bitter rival.
    I remember that Pike haul of yours. Taken on slowly retrieved sprats I believe.

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    1. Gavin Haig13 January 2016 at 18:00

      That's right Ric, wobbled sprat. No monsters, but loads of fun. If I remember right, the biggest went nine-something.

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